The publication Salinity on Australian Farms 2002 presents the first results of the Land Management and Salinity Survey which was conducted in May 2002 as a supplement to the 2001 Agricultural Census. Additional results from the survey will be made available at a later date with details to be advised in theABS Release Advice. The additional results will include further information and analysis. Some Agricultural Census results have been included in this publication to provide contextual and other information, and Agricultural Census information is clearly identified where it is used.

The 2002 Land Management and Salinity Survey was mainly targeted at the reference population of farm establishments which answered yes to either or both questions in the 2001 Agricultural Census regarding having land affected by salinity or using salinity management strategies. The survey results in this publication are based on a sample of approximately 20,000 farms establishments and the results have been weighted to cover the full reference population.

Salinity naturally occurs in Australia, but the clearing of native vegetation and use of water for irrigated agriculture, domestic and other uses has caused the salt stored beneath the ground to surface in many areas. This has affected agricultural production and damaged civil infrastructure, such as roads.

Salinity is divided into two types, dryland and irrigated. Dryland salinity is far more widespread but, in both types of salinity, it is water imbalances that are the fundamental cause of salinisation. Primarily to address the issue of dryland salinity, the Commonwealth and State and Territory Governments have adopted the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (NAP). The NAP has identified 21 high priority regions and data for these regions are reported in this publication. A map of these regions can be found here.

The 2002 Land Management and Salinity Survey collected information from farmers on the extent of land showing signs of salinity as well as the strategies used by farmers to manage and prevent salinity. Farmer assessments of the extent of salinity may differ from assessments made by scientific means, but are an indication of the level of salinity occurring on farms that can be provided rapidly and cost-effectively. The 2002 Land Management and Salinity Survey also has the advantage that farm management activities can be assessed in the context of economic and other information collected by the ABS and other agencies.

It is important to note that the 2002 Land Management and Salinity Survey provides information for agricultural land as defined for the ABS agricultural collections (see explanatory notes). Agricultural land defined in this way occupies approximately 460 million hectares, representing 60% of land use in Australia, but salinity and salinity management also occur on non-agricultural land. Non-agricultural land was out of scope for the 2002 Land Management and Salinity Survey.

Several of the strategies used to manage salinity as reported in this publication are also used by farmers for other reasons. For example, pastures are sown with lucerne, or trees planted, for reasons other than salinity. The results presented in this publication only refer to the activities specifically identified for salinity management by farmers. The activity may have more than one purpose and is only reported where it was wholly or partly for salinity management.

MAIN FINDINGS

A little under 20,000 farms and 2 million hectares of agricultural land were reported by farmers as showing signs of salinity.

Nearly 30,000 farms have implemented salinity management practices.

Of the agricultural land showing signs of salinity, 800,000 hectares is unable to be used for agricultural production.

The state most affected by salinity is Western Australia, with 7,000 farms and 1.2 million hectares showing signs of salinity.

Farms within the regions identified in the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (NAP regions), account for 17,000 farms or 87% of farms showing signs of salinity and 1.3 million hectares or 66% of the area showing signs of salinity. The NAP region most affected by salinity was Avon (WA) with 2,297 farms and 450,000 hectares showing signs of salinity.

Non-irrigated farms accounted for 1.8 million hectares or 93% of the agricultural land showing signs of salinity.

Farms primarily involved with the production of beef cattle, sheep and grains accounted for 16,000 or 82% of the farms showing signs of salinity and 1.9 million hectares or 97% of the agricultural land showing signs of salinity.

Just over 7,000 irrigated farms had made changes to irrigation practices for salinity management purposes.

The main motivations for implementation of salinity management practices were for:

Farm sustainability (66% of farmers implementing change saying this was of high importance)

Environmental protection (56%)

Increase or maintain agricultural production (54% )

The main reported barriers to changing land management practices were lack of financial resources and lack of time (35% and 21% of all farmers reporting these as very limiting, respectively). Lack of information or doubts about likely success were not considered by a majority of farmers to be barriers to change (in each case 52% of all farmers reported these as not a factor).

Comparisons with other data

The results from the Land Management and Salinity Survey show a lower level of saline land than other sources (see table 5). Factors most likely to be contributing to differences are the different concepts, assessment methods and coverage used in each study. The ABS survey covered agricultural land as it is defined for ABS agricultural collections, which covers about 60% of Australian land, and collected information on all salinity (not just dryland salinity as in the other studies). In addition, in the ABS survey it was farmers who identified the land showing signs of salinity. While farmers' perceptions of the area will differ from scientific assessments, they are more or less consistent with the other studies, in terms of the relative area affected by salinity in each state and territory. In all studies, WA is the state most affected by salinity and NT, ACT and Tas. are the least affected.

The National Land and Water Resources Audit (NLWRA) 2001 used information on water table height to estimate the risk of land becoming saline affected. The area at risk of salinity is not equivalent to the area showing signs of salinity, but the two are correlated. The Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC) 1999 estimate is based on expert assessments of the area affected by salinity, and includes non-agricultural land.

Fact sheets Facts sheets for the states and territories as well as one for the NAP regions can be found in the media release.

Farms with land showing signs of salinity Farms with land showing signs of salinity

Proportion of total farms in State(a)

Land showing signs of salinity

Proportion of total farm area in State (b)

Salinised land unable to be used for production

Proportion of land showing signs of salinity (c)

Proportion of total farm area in State (d)

no.

%

'000 ha

%

'000 ha

%

%

NSW/ACT

3108

7.4

124

0.20

44

35.6

0.1

Vic.

4834

13.7

139

1.1

60

43.5

0.5

Qld

993

3.4

107

0.1

40

37.4

-

SA

3328

21.6

*350

0.6

105

30.1

0.2

WA

6918

51.3

1241

1.1

567

45.7

0.5

Tas.

390

9.1

6

0.3

2

27.2

0.1

NT

8

2.0

2

-

2

97.3

-

Total Australia

19579

13.9

1969

0.4

821

41.7

0.2

(a) Farms with land showing signs of salinity as a proportion of total farms in the State/Territory/Australia. Source for the denominator is data from the ABS 2001 Agricultural Census.(b) Land showing signs of salinity as a proportion of total farm land in the State/Territory/Australia. Source for the denominator is data from the ABS 2001 Agricultural Census.(c) Salinised land unable to be used for production as a proportion of land showing signs of salinity.(d) Salinised land unable to be used for production as a proportion of total farm land in the State/Territory/Australia. Source for the denominator is data from the ABS 2001 Agricultural Census.* subject to sampling variability between 25-50%

2 SALINITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES, SUMMARY BY STATE(a)

State

Crops, pastures and fodder plants

Trees

Land fenced from grazing

Earthworks

'000 ha

'000 ha

'000 ha

'000 km

NSW/ACT

1096

91

17

43

Vic.

*680

40

40

37

Qld

331

126

*267

15

SA

452

14

29

*13

WA

633

500

352

98

Tas.

*7

5

1

*3

NT

*6

-

-

-

Total Australia

3205

776

466

207959.12

(a) Any land management practice undertaken wholly or partly for the management or prevention of salinity.* subject to sampling variability between 25-50%

3 REASONS FOR CHANGING LAND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, AUSTRALIA (a)

Reason

Not a reason

Low importance

Medium importance

High importance

Total

%

%

%

%

%

Increased productivity

18.6

6.7

20.5

54.2

100

Increased land value

28.8

15.4

27.7

28.1

100

Improved risk management

33.2

12.1

25.8

28.9

100

Farm sustainability

13.5

*3.9

16.3

66.3

100

Improved environment protection

12.6

5.1

26.8

55.6

100

(a) Farms managing for salinity and/or with land showing signs of salinity that have changed land management practices because of salinity or to prevent salinity* subject to sampling variability between 25-50%

4 BARRIERS TO CHANGING LAND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, AUSTRALIA(a)

Barrier

Not a factor

Not very limiting

Limiting

Very limiting

Total

%

%

%

%

%

Lack of financial resources

23.8

7.9

32.8

35.5

100

Lack of time

29.7

13.4

36.1

20.8

100

Insufficient or inadequate information

52.1

24.8

17.4

5.8

100

Doubts about likely success

51.8

23.1

18.3

6.8

100

Age or poor health

70.6

12.5

10.3

6.6

100

(a) Farms managing for salinity and/or with land showing signs of salinity.

5 AREA AFFECTED BY SALINITY, COMPARISON OF SURVEY RESULTS WITH OTHER ESTIMATES

State

PMSEIC 1999

NLWRA 2001

ABS 2002

Area of salinity affected land (a)

Area at risk of salinity (b)

Area showing signs of salinity (c)

'000 ha

'000 ha

'000 ha

NSW/ACT

120

181

124

Vic.

120

670

138

Qld

10

n.a.

106

SA

402

390

350

WA

1802

4363

1241

Tas.

20

54

6

NT

0

0

2

Total Australia

2476

5658

1969

(a) As determined by experts.(b) As estimated from water table heights.(c) As reported by farmers.

6 LAND SHOWING SIGNS OF SALINITY, BY NAP REGION (a)

NAP Region

Farms with land showing signs of salinity

Proportion of farms in region (b)

Land showing signs of salinity

Proportion of total farm area in region (c)

Salinised land unable to be used for production

Proportion of land showing signs of salinity unable to be used for production in NAP Region (d)

no.

%

'000 ha

%

'000 ha

%

Avocca-Loddon-Campaspe

1254

27.9

39

1.9

13

33.5

Avon

2297

79.9

451

5.8

285

63.2

Border Rivers

150

4.3

na

0.2

na

na

Burdekin-Fitzroy

152

3.3

**36

0.1

**20

56.4

Condamine-Balonne-Maranoa

145

2.3

*28

0.2

** 2

7.7

Darwin-Katherine

1

0.4

2

-

2

100.0

Glenelg-Hopkins-Corangamite

1438

18.7

*31

1.2

10

33.0

Goulburn-Broken

512

9.2

7

0.5

2

23.2

Lachlan-Murrumbidgee

1477

14.8

*47

0.5

5

11.7

Lockyer-Burnet-Mary

255

3.6

*2

0.1

*1

48.5

Lower Murray

1658

15.4

111

0.5

56

50.3

Macquarie-Castlereagh

497

8.5

9

0.1

*4

39.4

Midlands

318

15.6

*5

0.4

*1

27.6

Mt. Lofty-Kangaroo Island- Northern Agricultural District

2001

27.1

*59

1.3

**25

42.5

Murray

306

8.9

*12

0.3

2

18.6

Namoi-Gwydir

277

7.1

*7

0.2

* 1

10.3

Northern Agricultural District

878

55.0

153

2.8

92

60.4

Ord

9

8.6

-

-

-

22.7

South Coast

1428

61.8

75

2.4

43

57.2

South East

266

10.3

61

3.6

*10

16.9

South West

1793

38.8

157

5.0

79

50.7

Total NAP

17131

17.7

1302

0.9

671

51.6

Total non-NAP

2449

5.6

667

0.2

150

22.5

Total Australia

19579

13.9

1969

0.4

821

41.7

(a) NAP regions are the 21 priority regions identified in the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality.(b) Farms with land showing signs of salinity as a proportion of total farms in the NAP region/Australia. Source for the denominator is data from the ABS 2001 Agricultural Census.(c) Land showing signs of salinity as a proportion of total farm area in the NAP region/Australia. Source for the denominator is data from the ABS 2001 Agricultural Census.(d) Salinised land unable to be used for production as a proportion of land showing signs of salinity.* subject to sampling variability between 25-50%** subject to sampling variability of over 50%

7 AREA SHOWING SIGNS OF SALINITY, AREA WITHIN AND OUTSIDE OF NAP REGIONS (a)

NAP region

Non-NAP

Total (NAP and non-NAP)

000 ha

000 ha

000 ha

NSW/ACT

113

* 12

125

Vic.

129

9

138

Qld

67

*40

107

SA

152

*199

351

WA

836

405

1241

Tas

5

1

6

NT

2

*-

2

Total Australia

1302

667

1969

%

%

%

NSW/ACT

90

10

100

Vic.

94

6

100

Qld

62

38

100

SA

43

57

100

WA

67

33

100

Tas

75

25

100

NT

100

0

100

Total Australia

66

34

100

(a) NAP regions are the 21 priority regions identified in the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality.* subject to sampling variability between 25-50%

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